News has emerged that one of the players Everton tried to sign in the January window was Udinese and Portugal striker Beto, but their bid was rejected.
The failure to add any attacking reinforcements in last months transfer window was a massive blow to Everton supporters and put the club’s already slim hopes of survival in further doubt.
In the end it’s left the club and most importantly the new manager short of the additions he needs to do his job properly and leaves the Blues’ scratching around for free agents.
It was a ridiculous situation as the Toffees’ waited and waited while the days ticked by, without seeming to make any concrete moves for players.
And this after a summer window that had resulted in only one forward being added, making further additions in January even more vital.
Finally, there was movement and Villarreal forward Arnaut Danjuma was apparently ready to sign. Then as results continued to nosedive, the club acted and sacked Frank Lampard and as well, Danjuma went to Tottenham instead.
As usual with this club, and as had happened with Lampard’s own appointment a year earlier, his replacement Sean Dyche was eventually announced the day before the transfer window was due to close.
Effectively, that gave Dyche and the Blues’ just 24 hours to bring in the new players who most pundits and fans believed were essential to keeping Everton in the top flight.
A host of targets were claimed to be in their sights only for rivals clubs to snatch them from under the nose of Kevin Thelwell and the new manager.
Things reached a farcical point late in the day with the Toffees’ making almost frenzied attempts desperately trying a move for this player and that, but all to no avail.
One of the players Everton were supposedly trying to bring in was Beto. Italian media claim that the Blues’ made a concrete offer for the Portuguese forward but Udinese weren’t prepared to let him go.
That might not be the end of it though as supposedly the Blues’ will consider going back for him when this summer’s window opens.
Is any of this true? I don’t know. But even if it is, the quoted fee of around £30 million seems likely to be out of Everton’s reach given their current financial constraints.
That is unless the rumoured fresh investment in the club does indeed happen and at least some of that money is made available to strengthen the squad.
Stories continue to circulate that several groups of investors from the US are talking to Farhad Moshiri about putting money into the club although nothing is imminent.
If one of these parties do invest then it’s almost certain they will want representation on the board. Given how incompetently the current members have run things, that in itself will be a positive move.
We all remember though that something similar happened last summer when a consortium fronted by Peter Kenyon were at one stage in advanced negotiations to at first just invest, and then alledgedly, take over the club.
None of it ever happened of course and Moshiri remained in charge as yet another season began to unravel and results on the pitch started their familiar decline. So, lets wait and see for something solid to come of all this talk.
Even were this happen and Everton returned and try to sign Beto or a similar striker they would undoubtedly face strong competition from other clubs.
Given that the Blues’ couldn’t persude anyone to sign for them last month, I don’t see much prospect of that changing in the summer without a remarkable improvement in results between now and the end of the campaign.
All this transfer speculation will be academic of course if the club is relegated and faces the prospect of playing in the Championship next season.